Updated: 1/6/2021
I've been playing counter side for more than a week now and made some terrible mistakes. I do spend a little money on the game, it's one of the ways I show my support for good games like these and I love f2p friendly games and I hope game companies would continue to produce such games in future. I created this guide to help players just starting out and I hope beginners like me would not do the same shit I did...
I'm going to skip all the basics (how to play the game, navigation etc.) and jump into the important stuff.
What to do in the beginning:
The first objective in the game is the clear as much content as you can as it will unlock stages which you can farm. Being able to farm higher levels means better rewards and faster progression.
Which SSRs to get?
At the start you get a free 30 summon which includes an SSR, 3x SRs and Rs and Ns.
I read most guides and they all said to go for Kyle or Lin or Esterosa, BUT you can get these units from the free SSR ticket selection ticket. You can also randomly get these units from the SSR ticket by completing the 7days missions quest or the mentee quests.
So if you're a going for Chifuyu or Chinatsu do REROLL until you get either of them as they are only available from the starting banner summon and NOT from any of the SSR tickets (can get from paid selection ticket).
DO NOT immediately invest in all your SSRs as they require a lot of resources to limit break and you'll not be able to progress far.
Which SRs to get?
Tank
Ryan Ferrier (Best tank)
Benedict Constantine (PvP)
Striker
Lin Xien
Ranger
Kim Sobin
Sniper
Sylvia Lena Cooper
Support
Evelyn Keller
Get Ryan Ferrier period. The other 2 SRs if you're lucky can be Evelyn and one other in the list.
What units to build:
To be able to clear all content you need a minimum of 3 teams with at least 4 strong characters in each team (lv80) and to be able to achieve this you need to build low cost R units then your SRs and SSRs.
Units to build that will get you through most of the game's content as you'll have multiple copies of them and you can limit break them to lv100!!!:
1. Irie Alford - R
2. Cindy Looper - R
3. Claudia Nelson - R
4. Cathy Wade - N
They are mostly ground units so do supplement with units that can attack Air/ALL
You have another 4 slots so take any combination you like of SSRs and SRs which you want to build.
Do daily summons only and save your in-game currency and summoning tickets
With all the free summons and SSR tickets you should be able to get your favorite SSRs and then some. If you are still able to, get Yang Harim after that save your summoning tickets etc.
Save your in-game currency and tickets for later SSR characters or characters you like.
*by the way, I call BS on the 3.5% rates. I did get 2 SSRs on a single summon but I also went to pity (150 summons without an SSR) for another...
Ships
As you progress through the game you'll get a few ships, can't remember which but you'll want to have:
You don't have to max them out, just get them to 3 or 4 starts is fine:
Normandy - Must have at early stages to full clear some levels
Jeep
Coffin
You'll get a selection ticket for an SR ship, I chose Glepnir.
You'll need Normandy, the Jeep and 2 Assault ships to clear later Episodes.
You can build Stellar too but I don't use it too often.
Unlocking Squad slots:
I have a total of 6 squads unlocked, 3 for clearing stages and 3 for sending out on missions.
Branch Offices:
I don't have much advice for this but do build the free buildings as you level up.
I built the Radar structure and the buildings that would increase RAID chance etc.
Daily Grind:
Get your characters as high lv as you can by limit breaking. Only use copies to limit break for N and R units. You can use SR copies to limit break if you have a ton of them and are planning to summon frequently (but not very advisable to do so). This is so that you can clear higher level stages for your daily Simulations. Here is where you get items required to skill up and limit break. This is your absolute priority! Build your team to clear up to the lv90 stages ASAP! Clear the main stages as high as you can as you can farm more gold at higher stages. Gold is a real problem in the beginning...
Join a Guild:
Joining a guild gets you currency which you can exchange for items. You get this currency by Checking-in and Donating.
Be a mentee:
Get a mentor and clear the mentee quests for a free SSR ticket!! Do this before you reach account level 25 or lose your chance for rewards forever.... like me. T_T
Equipment:
Don't worry so much about equipment now, just equip the best you have. Once you can clear the higher stages you can farm for T5 equipment molds and start crafting gear. You can aim for the T6 gear using PVP currency in the exchange shop.
PVP:
Do clear your daily PVP and get the PVP currency as you can exchange really important items with these. (T6 gear, Awakened character tickets) To unlock the higher tier shop you'll need to buyout every item in the low tier.
Shop:
Shop list > Exchange Center > Convenience goods
Do get 1 simulation ticket a day for 30 quartz. DO NOT buy more (unless u whale) as the cost increases for each other ticket you buy. I use simulation tickets to farm the red skill tickets to max level my characters' skills. Not advisable to use to farm APT cores using simulation tickets as what you get is random. Better to farm APT cores in Supply Operation 02 - 1-3 and get S-APT cores from PVP shop (5) and Consortium (3).
Once you reach higher episodes and gold stops being a problem you can buyout the "Today's deals" with gold.
Unlock higher tier PVP shops by buying out all the items in the tier. Unlock the highest tier to get the special summoning tickets to summon for awakened characters.
What to spend your admin coins on:
Get the 30 day admin coin Supply contract for the best value. 3200 admin coins in 30days.
Imaginary Core Boost package - Not only do you get and equivalent amount of quartz in return for the admin coins you spend, you get 5000 dive currency and gold! You'll need dive currency to get special ship schematics to build an SSR ship and purchase other rare materials. You can't really farm dive currency from exploration and once you clear Dive depth 7 you'll have to wait for the reset. If you're really in need of Dive currency, this is your best option.
Info Boost Package - If you've not been farming Info via exploration and have exhausted it by skilling up, this is one of the ways to boost your Info. You get half of what you spend back in quartz and 5k Info!
Notable Characters you can build in the beginning:
Most would suggest saving dupe SRs for later limit breaking past lv100 but I reckon I would get more copies to limit break as I summon. Saving valuable resources to limit break my SSRs is my priority.
R
Cindy Looper
Claudia Nelson
Fione Lowell
Ingrid Johanna
Irie Alford
SR
Hilde
Joo Shiyoon
Yoo Mina
Kim Sobin
Lin Xien
Sylvia Cooper
Evelyn Keller
Ryan Ferrier
Benedict Constantine
*Do google the tier lists out there if you want to know which are the best units to build.
